BEIJING — A recent editorial published by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily has highlighted the political implications of the investigation into China’s top generals, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, employing unusually strong language, according to analysts.
Investigation into Top Generals
The official mouthpiece of the Chinese armed forces accused Zhang and Liu of having “seriously trampled on and undermined the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman” – a position held by President Xi Jinping.
The accusations came after Beijing announced both men were being investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law,” a common euphemism for corruption. This has become one of the most significant cases to involve the PLA’s senior leadership in recent years.
“You can feel the bitterness in the paragraph,” said Yang Zi, a research fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Yang noted that the editorial focused less on corruption and more on what it portrayed as Zhang and Liu undermining the authority of the CMC chairman. “It’s definitely… much stronger,” Yang said, referring to the phrase “seriously trampled on.” “It reflects a very severe breakdown in the relationship.”
Zhang, 75, is the first-ranking vice chair of the CMC, and a long-serving ally of Xi Jinping. Liu, 61, is a CMC member and the Joint Staff Department chief, overseeing PLA joint operations, training, and combat readiness.
The editorial framed the investigation as a validation of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign within the armed forces, calling it a “major achievement” and urging obedience to the party centre, the CMC, and Xi.
Beyond corruption, the PLA Daily editorial accused Zhang and Liu of posing a fundamental threat to the party’s control of the military. The two men were accused of “gravely betraying the trust and expectations” of the party leadership and “seriously fostering and exacerbating political and corruption-related problems.”
The editorial further claimed that Zhang and Liu damaged the authority and image of the CMC leadership, undermined unity within the ranks, and inflicted “immense damage” on the PLA’s political ecology and combat effectiveness. Their actions, the editorial stated, had “extremely negative consequences” for the party, the state, and the military.
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